Challenge Accepted
by starkiller19
Summary: A bet gone wrong leaves a very confused Leo with a black eye. This is kind of a part two to my story What's Wrong With Poker.


Leo wasn't sure how he and Hazel had started talking about monsters, but now he found himself talking to her about which monsters they thought they could handle and which ones they knew they couldn't.

"I could take on _any_ monster," Leo insisted as he played with the spare bolts and screws he kept in his pockets.

"Uh, huh. Sure you could," Hazel scoffed as she eyed him up.

"I totally could! My fighting skills are awesome!" he argued as he felt his cheeks getting hot. "I bet you I could even take Percy or Jason." He regretted those words as soon as they left his mouth, especially when he saw the smile that crossed Hazel's lips.

"Oh, really?" she asked as her eyes roamed the lounge room. He saw her eyes light up when they landed on something behind him, and he gulped as he slowly turned to see what she was looking at. Percy was standing on the other side of the room, talking to Piper.

"I bet you couldn't pin Percy on the ground for three seconds. Full pin, both shoulders on the ground," she challenged as she crossed her arms, daring him to say no. Leo glanced at Percy then back at Hazel before he nodded.

"Challenge accepted," he said. _I'm an absolute moron,_ he thought to himself as he snuck up behind Percy. Piper glanced at him, and he held a finger to his lips, praying to any god that would listen to him that Piper wouldn't give him away. Her eyes widened slightly, and Leo knew he only had a few seconds before Percy would turn around to see what she was looking at. He jumped towards Percy, putting all his strength into tackling the older demigod. Thankfully he caught Percy off guard, and the son of Poseidon went down pretty easily. Leo knew he never could have moved Percy at all if he had been paying attention. Leo climbed on top of him and grabbed his shoulders, shoving them to the ground. _This is going to be easier than I thought,_ he thought to himself. Suddenly the body beneath him began to buck and thrash as Percy fought desperately to get up. Leo couldn't get both of his shoulders on the ground again, but that was the least of his problems. The look in Percy's sea green eyes could only be described as pure panic. As Percy wrenched his right arm free, Leo felt pain explode in his left eye. He fell to the ground, covering his eye with his hand as he watched Percy scramble away from him.

"Geez, man. What was that?!" he shouted, rubbing his eye with the palm of his hand. Hazel rushed over to his side and pulled his hand away so she could look at his eye. Leo looked over to see Piper helping Percy to his feet. _Oh, sure, help him. I'm the one who's going to have a black eye._ But from the look in her eyes, he was pretty sure there was something else going on.

"Hey, you're okay," he heard her whisper to him. "It was just Leo joking around." Leo winced at the glare she shot his way. If looks could kill he'd be six feet under. Percy nodded and shrugged her hand off of his shoulder.

"Yeah, I know. Just kind of freaked out for a second," he replied with a nervous laugh. "Sorry, it was stupid. I'm, uh, I'm going to go see how much progress Annabeth's made with the map."

"Percy," Piper called as she reached out a hand to try and stop him from leaving, but he was already too far out of reach.

Piper walked over to Leo who was still sitting on the floor holding his injured eye. Her arms were crossed, and she stared down at him as if she were about to give him another black eye.

"What just happened?" Hazel asked, looking up at Piper. Piper didn't answer her; instead she punched Leo in the shoulder, much harder than Leo thought was possible.

"Ow!" Leo rubbed his shoulder as he frowned up at his friend.

"What is wrong with you!?" she asked him as if he had just kicked a puppy or something. He stared up at her like she was insane.

"What do mean what's wrong with me? _He's_ the one who punched me in the face," he argued.

"I told Leo I didn't think he could pin Percy," Hazel said, trying to defend Leo. Piper looked between the two and shook her head with a sigh. Leo was still so confused. He had no idea why what he had done was so wrong, and he definitely had no idea why the great Percy Jackson would freak out because someone tackled him.

"I'm going to go make sure he's okay," she said as she walked away.

"Make sure he's okay? I didn't hurt him did I?" he asked, turning to Hazel.

"I don't think so." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. "You should probably ice that," she told him as she glanced at his eye. He nodded and waved her off as she left to probably go find Frank.

Leo made his way to Annabeth's room, deciding it would be a good idea to apologize. Percy Jackson was _not_ a person he wanted to anger. He could be scary when he was really mad. Leo shivered as he thought about the first time he made the son of Poseidon angry. When he reached Annabeth's room he saw her door was open, and he poked his head in as he knocked on the open doorway.

"What do you need, Leo?" she asked as she looked up from her laptop.

"I was just looking for Percy. Have you seen him?" he asked.

"Not since lunch," she replied. "Why, did something happen?"

"Huh, could have sworn he said he was going to come find you," he muttered to himself. "Nothing happened. I just need to talk to him," he told her. She nodded and looked back down at her laptop which Leo took to mean 'let me get back to my work'. He continued to Percy's room, and hesitated when he stopped in front of the closed door. He gulped as he raised his fist to knock on the door. _What do I even say to him,_ he thought to himself. He took a deep breath and gently knocked on the door. He heard shuffling on the other side of the door and soon it swung open. Percy looked a little shocked to see Leo standing on the other side.

"Listen, man, I'm sorry for tackling you. I was just joking around. I didn't realize it would upset you so much." Leo paused for a second, but Percy just stared at him. Leo hated that he couldn't read Percy. His simple stare could mean 'I want pizza' or it could mean 'I'm about to rip your arms off and feed them to a shark'. "We cool?" Leo asked, really hoping Percy was the forgive and forget type.

Percy sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah we're cool. It's not really anything you did, anyway."

Leo nodded, happy that Percy didn't seem angry at him. They stood in awkward silence for a few seconds. Leo was tempted to leave, but he still had a question he wanted answered.

"So, why did you freak out? Piper seemed really concerned, and I heard her telling you that it was just me. Who did you think I was?" Leo was afraid all the apologizing he just did had been thrown out the window when Percy tensed and chewed on his lower lip.

"Look, Percy, I know I joke around all the time, but you can tell me anything. I promise not to make fun of you if that's what you're worried about," he said. He knew basically everyone on the Argo II thought of him as a jokester who never took anything seriously. That was mostly true, but he did take things seriously when one of his friends was upset.

Percy seemed to think for a minute as he studied Leo's face, probably searching for any sign of a lie. "For a split second I saw my stepfather Gabe instead of you," Percy told him. The wheels in Leo's head turned as he thought back to the encounter.

"You're stepfather?" he asked, confused. "But why… oh." It hit him. He should have seen it sooner. He'd been in plenty of rough foster homes; he knew how abused children acted. Thankfully he never stayed in those houses long enough to suffer much. He usually ran away from those homes, but other children weren't so lucky. Now that he thought back, he could see the same things in Percy that he saw in those children: the forced smiles, avoiding physical contact as much as possible, the flinches when someone moved too fast. It hit Leo like a ton of bricks. This guy, this teen who was only a year older than himself had been hurt so bad by his stepfather that he was still scared of him.

"Oh, man, I'm so sorry. If I had known…" he trailed off. What was he supposed to say to this. He wanted more than anything to make some sort of joke to lighten the mood. He didn't do well when it came to serious conversations like this.

"It's not your fault," Percy replied with a sigh. "I'm not usually like 's been a long couple of months, and this whole end of the world thing has me on edge." Leo nodded, but he must not have looked convinced because Percy placed his hand on his shoulder and added, "I'm fine, really."

"All right. If you're sure," Leo knew deep down that he wasn't fine. He probably wouldn't be for a long time, but Leo could also tell that Percy didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Just put in a good word with Piper for me. I think she wants to kill me."

"I'll try, but once you've made her mad I don't think there's anything anyone can do." Leo groaned and Percy smiled at him.  
"Sorry about your eye," Percy said as he looked at the bruise which was starting to form.

"Huh? Oh, it's fine. Makes me look tough," he replied, flexing his muscles. Percy just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Percy and Leo returned to the lounge where Piper and Jason were talking. Leo stopped in his tracks as he watched the heated conversation. Piper's arms were waving wildly and there was a fire in her eyes that scared Leo to death.

"I take it those two know also," he said as he glanced over at Percy. Percy pursed his lips and nodded. Leo could have sworn he heard him mutter something about "stupid charmspeak" and how it was "unfair".

As they walked up to Jason and Piper, the couple stopped arguing, and Leo could tell from the looks they both shot Percy that they were worried about him.

"I've been looking for you," Piper told Percy. "I checked with Annabeth, but she hadn't seen you. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine guys, really. I overreacted," Percy insisted, smiling at her. She stared at him for a moment then nodded, accepting his answer. Jason turned to Leo and punched him in the shoulder, exactly where Piper had hit him earlier.

"Ow! Seriously, dude?!" Leo whined as he rubbed his shoulder. "You guys definitely make a good couple," he muttered to himself.

"Everything good between you two?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, he explained everything." Piper raised her eyebrows and looked at Percy.

"Someone told me I should talk to people instead of keeping everything bottled up," Percy replied with a shrug.

Suddenly Frank came jogging into the room followed closely by Hazel. "Hey, guys!" he said cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Not much," Percy said, taking in the large grin on his friend's face. "What's up with you?

"Look! I finally figured out the Chinese handcuffs!" he replied. The others crowded around Frank while Percy hung back a little. He felt someone bump up against his shoulder, and he smiled as he wrapped his arm around Annabeth's shoulders.

"What's going on?" she asked, looking over at the group.

"Frank figured out the handcuffs," Percy replied as he looked down at her. A small smirk spread across her face as she watched Frank. "You helped him, didn't you?" She simply shrugged.

"I never turn down people who want to learn," she replied. When he didn't say anything, she looked up at him and frowned. He looked a million miles away, and she knew that was never a good sign.

"Piper and Leo came looking for you. Did something happen?" she asked.

"Nothing I couldn't handle," he replied. He looked back over at his friends who were cheering for Frank as he held up the Chinese handcuffs triumphantly. "We have great friends here."

She smiled up at him as she leaned her against his shoulder. "We sure do."


End file.
